OPPAI ORACLE

Thought we could have a thread where people post their favorite vidya games and maybe discuss what they've played on other people's lists.
For me I have a 5x5 of my favorites I made somewhat recently, other people are welcome to post a 3x3 or bigger or however many they want or just a text list if they're lazy.

My list

Eh your list doesn't load for some reason (maybe I'll read it later) but here, let's go, no particular order:
Nioh
Metal Gear Solid
Devil May Cry
Shovel Knight
Celeste
Ninja Gaiden
NieR/Drakengard
Rhythm Heaven Fever
Bayonetta
Disco Elysium
Esoteric Ebb
Code Vein
Resident Evil OG
Touhou
Castlevania
Hades II
Yakuza
Zelda
Hotline Miami

also Black Souls (million times more better/niche Demon Roots) was pretty much just a story-based game, along with FAITH and Cat in the Box

also: visual novels
Chaos;Head NoaH
Subarashiki Hibi

bonus: games I used to play as a clueless kid:
A Hat in Time
Batman Arkham
Watch Dogs
Nuclear Throne
Ape Out
Rogue Lineage/Your Bizarre Adventure

Yunyun Syndrome is mid style over substance larp (it's akiba-pop, not denpa) also you should watch this entire playlist on explaining why souls-likes are the worst genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hYnT_w ... 6a2i1jnM4s he also points out how much better of a metroidvanias there are other than (don't want to be harsh on small indie dev team, but) overrated HK https://www.youtube.com/live/npanvpFuxJ ... V7P&t=5685

Eh your list doesn't load for some reason (maybe I'll read it later)

catbox has been having issues recently so might be that, not really sure what to use for an image host for these forums, I guess imgur but it usually converts pngs to jpegs and makes them look worse

also Black Souls (million times more better/niche Demon Roots) was pretty much just a story-based game

Never played Black Souls but I want to mention a good H-RPG that I don't see come up too often which is Pray Game. Story is interesting and the combat is pretty in-depth despite still being a basic turn-based RPG Maker game. And the porn/art is good unlike something like Black Souls which I find a bit too artsy (I guess most people are playing for the game aspect and not really the H)

Also I've played Celeste but never finished it. The levels kind of dragged on too long I think and I got bored. Another good precision platforming game I really liked is Wings of Vi but it's kind of more like an I Wanna Be the Guy-type game than Celeste.

saint wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 11:02 pm

Thought we could have a thread where people post their favorite vidya games and maybe discuss what they've played on other people's lists.

Nice list. Works fine for me, not sure what the issue is on Comfortable's end. I've only played Yume 2kki and Mother 3 but they're both fantastic. Though I always thought EarthBound was superior to Mother 3 just in terms of the overall story and environments. I liked LSD a decent amount, but didn't find it to be mindblowing. Still curious to try the other Satou Osamu games.

Comfortable1 wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 11:19 pm

Metal Gear Solid
Touhou
Castlevania
Zelda

Subarashiki Hibi

I've played these (well, only MGS 1, Touhou 1-17, Symphony of the Night and Super Castlevania IV, and Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask). What are your favorite entries in these two franchises? I really liked the two Zelda games. The Castelvania ones I was more ambivalent on, but SotN was pretty cool.

I'm going to make one for games and one for visual novels:

Games (in chronological order because I can't possibly rank them):



In case you can't see it for some reason:

Spoiler

Hatris (1990)
EarthBound (1994)
Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994)
Quake (1996)
Riven (1997)
Money Idol Exchanger (1997)
Armed Police Batrider (1998)
Mr. Driller (1999)
Heroes of Might and Magic III: Complete (1999)
Deus Ex (2000)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
Touhou Koumakyou ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (2002)
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003)
ESPGaluda (2003)
Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigoku-tachi~ (2003)
Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom (2003)
Yume Nikki (2004)
Katamari Damacy (2004)
Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night (2004)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004)
Touhou Bunkachou ~ Shoot the Bullet (2005)
Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith (2007)
Double Spoiler ~ Touhou Bunkachou (2010)
Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei (2010)
Arcana Heart 3 LOVEMAX SIXSTARS!!!!!! (2013)

Visual Novels:

Topster was missing some favorites so here's a top 10:

1. Subarashiki Hibi ~ Furenzoku Sonzai (2010)
2. Ever17 -the out of infinity- (2002)
3. Saya no Uta (2003)
4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2002-2006)
5. Cross Channel (2003)
6. Period (2007)
7. Symphonic Rain (2004)
8. Steins;Gate (2009)
9. Kikougai -The Cyber Slayer- (2002)
10. Swan Song (2005)

saint wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 11:02 pm

Thought we could have a thread where people post their favorite vidya games and maybe discuss what they've played on other people's lists.

I haven't played a lot of these games but they look interesting! I definitely want to play Yume 2kki once I finish Yume Nikki, but I'm so bad at navigating in those types of games

Comfortable1 wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 11:19 pm

Disco Elysium
Subarashiki Hibi

Batman Arkham

Great to see another Disco Elsyium fan here! I've yet to find any game that feels as much like a really good novel, while still feeling like it has to be told as a game. It's a very special thing. I also played the Arkham games a bunch as a kid, and I still find them comforting to come back to. Nowadays the gameplay loop can bore me a little but so many aesthetic moments like flying around the city and the flow of combat feel nearly perfect.

Amlux wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 1:08 am

Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994
Deus Ex (2000)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
Yume Nikki (2004)

1. Subarashiki Hibi ~ Furenzoku Sonzai (2010)

100% yes on the Deus Ex and Morrowind picks, as you can see below with my chart. The world of Morrowind is so special to me and I've spent weeks of my life in there. Nothing else quite scratches the itch of that combination of alien and fantastical. In no other game has taking a long walk felt so rich. I so strongly believe that the implementation of and designing around easy fast-travel in subsequent Bethesda games was very detrimental to the experience of the world. It also has one of my favorite video game graphical aesthetics. I love this era of gnarly low-poly environments and monsters. Quake is great for this as well, as is the original Thief game, though I haven't played it yet.
Objectively, Doom II is probably the better game, but I have a soft spot for the original just because it's the one I played over and over again as a kid. Knee-Deep in the Dead in particular is practically written into my genome at this point.



Text:

Spoiler

1. Subarashiki Hibi ~ Furenzoku Sonzai (Topster just shows the steam first chapter, lol)
2. LISA: The Painful
3. Disco Elysium
4. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
5. Deus Ex
6. Doom
7. LISA: The Pointless
8. Rimworld
9. SWAT 4

Deoster wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 6:39 am

Nothing else quite scratches the itch of that combination of alien and fantastical. In no other game has taking a long walk felt so rich. I so strongly believe that the implementation of and designing around easy fast-travel in subsequent Bethesda games was very detrimental to the experience of the world.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I'm playing Oblivion right now and I am liking it very much. it's fulfilling a similar mood that I've missed. However, I can't help but feel like it's slightly smoothed out all the weird shit in Morrowind and given a slightly more generic "fantasy" version without all the slavery and racism and weird jellyfish monsters and so on. Of course, I still am really enjoying it so far. I'm stuck to playing a Breton mage every time. I like being a frail little guy who dominates with a bunch of spellcasting, even if I usually default to simple stuff like fireballs and turn the game into an FPS rather than dealing with the more intricate stuff like alchemy. What race/class did you like playing most?

Amlux wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 7:33 am

What race/class did you like playing most?

Not the most original for Morrowind, but I most like playing dunmer. Their culture and aesthetics are too cool to me. The influences from Hinduism and ancient Mesopotamia are fantastic, especially the latter because you don't often see fantasy draw from Sumerian or Akkadian culture, even though it's fucking awesome. I mean, Dagoth Ur!!! Holy shit!!!

And in terms of class, I always enjoy playing thief/rogue type characters. I always like sneaking and thieving (even if it's not the best in Morrowind) and playing a grubby, scrappy little lowlife is fun. Magic is great though, especially with the ridiculous spells/enchanted items you can make at a certain point.

Too many for me. Somehow I no longer really enjoy playing games even if I try, plus I stopped playing proprietary games in 2016 and only focus on libre games, although I have occasionally sinned with a GBA game in emulator a few times.

Here are some of my favorites (I'll highlight the ones I think might be of interest for Amlux to perhaps check out for streaming): Advance Wars (excluding the new "remake"), TES (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim), Pokemon (gen 1, 2, 3), Half Life (1 and 2), Warcraft III, WoW, Xonotic, OpenArena, Quake III, GTA (3, VC, SA, 4, 5), Mafia (1), Doom (1, 2, 3, 2016), Freedoom, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D, The Witness, Portal (1, 2), Crash Bandicoot (3), TrackMania (Nations, UF, 2, Turbo), Mirror's Edge, Superhot, Dink Smallwood (now GNU Freedink), Legend of Grimrock (1, 2), Antichamber, FUEL, Titan Quest, FLARE, ...